I joke often that, in spite of my degree in finance and career in the banking world, had I just read the Book of Proverbs I would have gotten a much better – and much cheaper – financial education. In this series I’ll highlight a few key principles from Proverbs that you can apply to your finances today.
“A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished,” is written in Proverbs 28:20.
I’d like to tell you about an exciting opportunity a lot of people like you are talking about…
Ugh! I can’t stand the pitches – whether from people who corner me in a hardware store or from goofy infomercials with horrible actors – for a product, service, or “opportunity” that promises to deliver untold amounts of money with little or no effort.
Give me a break.
You don’t have to look far into the various layers of our economy to find people who’ve been burned by trying to get rich quickly. What I admire in this proverb, is the word “faithful.” When you commit yourself to a discipline of saving money over a long period of time, you are acting in patience and faithfulness.
A brief review of the performance of the stock market shows that those who invest regularly with a long-term time horizon (meaning they don’t jump in and out at the latest fad investment), tend to earn an average return around 11% annually. One recent study showed that the typical day trader – eager to get rich – will average around 7%.
Losing out on 4% might not seem like punishment.
If you invest $200 a month for 40 years at 11%, you end up with $1.7 million; if you invest $200 a month for 40 years at 7%, you end up with $525,000.
Losing out on $1.2 million is punishment to me.
Staying faithful to a disciplined, balanced investing strategy is part of being a good steward, and will surely help you avoid a million-dollar slap on the wrist.
